Originally Posted By AutoPost This topic is for Discussion of <a href="http://www.LaughingPlace.com/Lotion-View-1351.asp" target="_blank"><b>LP Lotion: Dumbo Interactive Queue at the Magic Kingdom's New Fantasyland</b></a> Pictures of the recently opened interactive queue play area at the Magic Kingdom's New Fantasyland.
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn Excellent job. I'm glad they focused a lot on Dumbo. After all, that's the one animated classic which has a scene the closest to WDW of any other.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros This is fine and dandy, but what are those of us without kids age 2-12 supposed to do while we wait? Is there a place to just sit and wait your turn? I really don't want to spend my time standing there, watching other people's kids on the playground. If that's my only option, I would perfer a traditional queue, and the extra money to be spent on something that I can actually use during my vacation.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 This is fine and dandy, but what are those of us without kids age 2-12 supposed to do while we wait? Is there a place to just sit and wait your turn?<< Seriously? How many people not in that demographic are going to ride Dumbo? 5%, 10%.... The things people complain about....
Originally Posted By TDLFAN This waiting area is so disappointing for me that I have no choice but to come out of retirement for 5 minutes and comment. First up..I do love how the Dumbo spinners themselves turned out as they are nicely detailed and lit at night. (I'd love for TDL to finally get rid of their MK 1971 Dumbo spinner version for good!!) Plus the details I've seen being applied to the rest of the "new" Fantasyland expansion are a much welcomed sight in what is otherwise Disney's least enchanting Disneyland-style kingdom on Earth. How lacking the Magic Kingdom park really is?, it will become very evident after the official opening of the "new" Fantasyland on december 6th. My issues with this Dumbo queue are the overall cheapness of it all. Take away the colorful props and lights and you end up with a basic playground like those found at your neighborhood McDoanld's. I am sure Ronald McDonald would have felt quite at home if they had built his restaurant next to this queue in circusland. Mind you.. it does not escape my mind that Dumbo, and this entire area for that, is meant to entice the toddler crowd and their overly stressed out parents. However, I am troubled by the fact that building these interactive queues is simply admitting defeat (Fastpass has cluttered traditional queues to the walls) or it could mean they're preparing for the worst (with the new reservation system coming online soon.) I also have to question how the current Fastpass system comes into play here.. You get a fastpass to wait some more inside that tent? Is it then worth it to walk half way across the "old" fantasyland to pick up a FP for Dumbo? Sounds like another well intentioned but ill conceived idea from the powers that haven't got a clue now running WDW. And deep down inside.. this is "DISNEY". Why go cheap? Looking at pictures of parents sitting on the sideline benches looking bored to death speak volumes, and brings to mind Walt's own dilemma that created Disneyland in the first place, when he sat by himself eating peanuts while his daughters had all the fun. Now how sad is that? Also, when they have to advertise the pager system so repeatedly while in the queue, well, that tells me there is an issue here. Remember..people on vacation check their brains in their luggage and then the airlines loose it. Is Disney management expecting that people will actually be intelligently alert during their vacations, especially when watching over the little brats? And above all.. if asking guests to go play in a nicely decorated playground was their intention in the first play, then, why oh why did they feel the need to install TWO spinners? I thought that having two spinners would mean moving the traditional line at a 50% faster rate. Based on their initial plans, I was under the impression that guests in the Dumbo queue would be treated to carnival style performances (like magicians or clowns etc) inside that big top while waiting to ride. How wrong was I to expect that Disney would actually do something of substance to compete against Universal's Wizarding World or the upcoming Transformers. If more "meet and greets", restaurants, shops, water play areas, one cloned ride, and a kiddie coaster (at the expense of a beloved old classic's closure) is all we have to look forward to as the Magic Kingdom enters it's 4th decade... then Disney magic as we expect it to be is no more. It's quite obvious to me the current management thinks and acts for the children and parents who are completely happy to pay to see their kids entertained. It's NOT about those of us who are willing TO PAY to BE ENTERTAINED.
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub Standing ovation for your 5 minute appearance! Bravo...now tell us what you think of the new Value Resort...
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Seriously? How many people not in that demographic are going to ride Dumbo? 5%, 10%.... The things people complain about....<< I may be in a minority, but that's the demographic I'm in. I seldom ride Dumbo because of the long waits, but but I would enjoy the opportunity to ride it more often; with twice as many rides to double the capacity, I had hope that this 'improvement' would make it easier for me to do that. Instead, it makes me and the group I'm traveling with feel even more like a bunch of weirdos, sitting on the bench, staring at random children on the playground. I'm pretty sure that's the type of person that people try to warn their kids about.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "This is fine and dandy, but what are those of us without kids age 2-12 supposed to do while we wait?" I'm wondering anyone in that situation would even waste time with Dumbo in the first place.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "Instead, it makes me and the group I'm traveling with feel even more like a bunch of weirdos, sitting on the bench, staring at random children on the playground. I'm pretty sure that's the type of person that people try to warn their kids about" LOL. But wouldn't you feel even sillier standing in a 45 minute line for something like Dumbo with a bunch of little kids and their parents? It would be even more disconcerting sitting in one of those elephants spinning around...
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn You must understand... it's really Dumbo. And he really flies. Can't you see that?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I've managed to go on Dumbo at the end of the night when the lines are short, without feeling too ridiculous. Since the lines are always so long, those rides are quite rare, but now that I'll feel like a creeper just for wandering near the ride, I doubt I'll ever ride it until I have kids of my own. Not the biggest loss in the world, but definitely one of the few times that Disney has created something that I felt like was clearly not made with me in mind. Disney usually makes almost every attraction accessible to almost every demographic, even if it's a bit of a stretch (like Dumbo had been). I can see the appeal of this to people with kids who can't stand still, but adding the playground and pagers really seems to dumb down the park, IMO (it feels like a cross between McDonald's and Applebee's). It will be interesting to see how the dynamic changes as they roll out the NextGen stuff across the park in coming months.
Originally Posted By TP2000 I'm an adult who can go decades at a time without riding Dumbo, but I'm left unimpressed with this queue concept. The interior looks a bit cheaply done, and the play elements are just a Dumbo themed Ronald McDonald Playground. They obviously didn't take this to the next level, they just did what was barely enough to keep people entertained in air conditioning while they wait to go on the spinner ride. Why?!? The one nice thing is that this gets people inside out of the horrific Florida climate there 7 or 8 months out of the year. But all the pictures of parents sitting on hard benches bored to tears and waiting (praying) for their "pager" to go off speaks volumes. And knowing how WDW maintains (or doesn't maintain) things now, how long before stuff is broken and dingy and poorly maintained? I give it until Thanksgiving before at least two or three things in the playground are closed or blocked off or simply broken. If this is what we have to expect from NextGen and XPass, I'm not impressed.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance " I doubt I'll ever ride it until I have kids of my own." Am I imagining it, or did you come up with a business idea for a kid rental service? Time to implement! That way any guy can go on kid rides at Disney parks and not feel like a perv! Even if you have to make a pitstop at a Dumbo themed playground! Just smile and wave to the rented child (the child will be trained to smile and wave back) and presto, whamo, you're in!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Hahaha, I don't remember coming up with that idea, but that doesn't mean that it didn't happen. Though I think that renting a kid would make anyone feel even more like a perv...
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Yeah, you're right. I need to learn to calm down and think things through.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>Standing ovation for your 5 minute appearance! Bravo...now tell us what you think of the new Value Resort...<< I'm sorry but my 5 minutes are up
